Passing Time in the Loo

Over 25 writers take to the loo to review the second installation of a best-selling series from Scarab Books Ltd. Expect toilet-puns aplenty and bathroom-based jokes…

Passing Time in the Loo (PTITL) is like a handheld quiz show, containing both riveting and random information, such as who became the first female medical doctor or where you might find the world’s highest waterfall, alongside mini-biographies of icons such as Steven Spielberg, Katharine Hepburn or Charlie Chaplin. This is possibly one of the most eccentric and entertaining books you might ever pass time reading.                                                                                                  – Nicole Davis 

This book will send you from the toilet to your bookshelves and beyond! Why waste your time with cheap puns and trivia when you can soak up the truly brilliant? Poetry in particular is best enjoyed when taking time for yourself and this book certainly gives you space to do that. Passing Time in the Loo will help you broaden the horizons of how you pass time everywhere else. – Dan Mountain

PTITL is densely packed with fun, varied and accessible information. The articles are short and easily digestible, making this a great book to ‘dip into’ when commuting, at the bus stop or, of course, on the loo. From history to literature, and from celebrities to politics, this book offers something to please everyone. – Emily Nabney

If attending to nature’s nasty necessities just doesn’t seem edifying enough, PTITL provides a handy assortment of those intelligent things you haven’t quite got round to learning yet, and in sections timed perfectly to accommodate even the briefest of bodily functions. Return to your dinner party ready to impress, rewarded with the knowledge that there is one more University Challenge question to which you know the answer and, that potentially, you are in possession of an exceptionally unhygienic book.                                                                                                           – Rebekah King

PTITL is great for any book lover, providing detailed summaries of everything you’ve been meaning to read but have never gotten round to. It covers a wide range of literature, divided into categories that make it easy to find something that will interest you. However, the 550 pages of absolutely miniscule text and lack of images make this book very uninviting – definitely not something I’d pick up for a bit of easy reading! – Unnati Shah

Despite the slightly off-putting title, I found PTITL to be an interesting read. Encompassing a wide selection of summaries of books from various genres, it is great for those small slots of time between seminars or whilst on the U1 when there is not enough time to get stuck into a novel. After reading several of the summaries I felt that I had widened my literary knowledge and increased my summer reading list. – Anna Laycock

A book that engages with the key issue facing toilet-goers in modern times – not having anything to do whilst in there. Featuring everything from summaries of well-known literary emblems to lists of famous people’s witty mutterings, this book really does have it all. The two page summaries mean that you can pick and choose with ease, without committing to an extended loo break. A must read for bowel evacuators. – Jonathan Pitman

I wasn’t quite sure whether or not the titular purpose of this book would be fulfilled. Indeed, the cleaners at university wouldn’t be too shocked to find a book, of all things, on the toilet floor. During my childhood, however, the toothy faces of soap characters on the television magazines that always ended up in my bathroom unnerved me greatly. Therefore, I think this store of book summaries will be reserved for general knowledge based situations in the living room: for board games and social crises at parties.                                                                                                                           – Lillian Hingley

With the recent news of Margaret Thatcher’s death, I realised that though I knew who the Iron Lady was, I didn’t know much about what she did. Remembering that PTITL had a section dedicated to her, I quickly gained a basic knowledge of what went on during the 11 years she was Prime Minister. When you don’t fancy getting stuck into a long book, the short extracts in this little gem will help you out. – Anita Chagar

Although a handful of facts are botched here and there, on the whole, this reference book would make a neat – and informative – addition to any bathroom. Library Six (Thoughts Worth Pondering) is a particular procrastination goldmine, filled with nuggets of wisdom (and more than a few one-liners) to chew over for the rest of the day. It’s not something to avidly swear by, but when finding oneself at a loose end for a few minutes, dipping into this book’s well-stocked pages can be as good an option as any.                                                                                                                       – Michael Perry

At first glance this weighty tome, with its unnecessarily small type, appears to be the last thing you’d want to pass the time reading, on the loo or otherwise. The first half of the book, containing summaries of classic novels and poetry, is too reminiscent of GCSE revision guides, but the second half thankfully proves more interesting, with a random, yet oddly diverting mixture of speeches, biographies and trivia which, if nothing else, might just improve your pub quiz scores.                                                                                                                                                                                                       – Louise Machin

With a very in vogue pale mint cover and embossed glossy gold titles, PTITL (Vol. 2) would not look amiss in any smart bathroom. The book, hailing itself as ‘classic’, evidently has the well-read and cultured reader in mind providing a wealth of clever, anecdotal material for dinner parties and the like. The print is very small, so it’s fortunate this review is for a student paper, whose audience is unlikely to yet require reading glasses.  – Bekie Ellerby

PTITL is a treasure chest of a book offering a huge collection of fascinating bite-sized texts. Want to look up the plot of a novel you read years ago – or one you’ve always pretended to have read? Want to learn a couple of new interesting facts or quotations? Or spend time with some of the best poetry ever written? Or simply to entertain yourself for a few minutes/hours? Look no further.                                                                                                                                                    – Helen Kalpus

Two examples of things I have learnt from this book: the Cricket from Pinocchio was actually modelled on Disney’s Uncle Ed, whom he called ‘Uncle Elf’ because, apparently, he looked like one. Secondly, that Michael Jordan, after inviting some kids who were standing outside the stadium to the game, started visiting them regularly in their not-so-nice neighbourhood to ask how they were doing at school. Not essential knowledge, but fascinating all the same. – Rita Oliveira

PTITL is an unusual concept for a book. Broken up into succinct chunks, it provides easy access to a few minutes of light entertainment. Whether you need inspiration or want to speed read one of the classics, PTITL is jam packed with the sublime to the serious. The only slight criticism would be the print size. In their attempt to cram in as much wonder as they can, the authors have reduced the words as much as they possibly could, so pop on your specs! – Lucy Berkeley

A book full of little gems, like ‘a-kid’s-eye view of love’: When is it okay to kiss someone? “When they’re rich” says Pam, aged 7. On what falling in love is like: “If falling in love is anything like learning to spell, I don’t want to do it. It takes too long” states Glen, aged 7. How can a stranger tell if two people are married? “Married people usually look happy to talk to other people” observes Eddie, aged 6. This book is dangerous if you are prone to procrastination. Beware.
– George Ryan

Before this book came along my toilet book of choice was Jean-Paul Sartre’s L’Être et Le Néant, which meant my bowel movements were accompanied by a sense of profound existential terror, leaving me melancholy and contemplative for the rest of the day. Now thanks to the delightful snippets of Woody Allen and Steven Wright contained in this book I have been freed of all previous ontological anxieties, and I can now defecate with a smile on my face. – David McIver

PTITL is everything the title promises. The section offering classics condensed into two pages is a lifeline for the time-pressed literature student, or indeed anyone who needs to pretend to have read a book at short notice. However the fact-checking in the trivia section is notably poor: a major fault in the sort of book you pick up to improve your general knowledge. – Elisabeth Weale

PTITL is undeniably the book from which I could consume every snippet of information for days on end. Packed with minuscule snippets, tasters, opinions and summaries, I found myself spanning from one end of the literature spectrum to the other, engrossing myself in the poetry of Shakespeare and Keats, before reading more about The Hobbit and Watership Down. I would whole heartedly recommend this gem of a book to any literature enthusiast or information-hungry student, be it on the loo or not!                                                                                                        – Rosanna Hiscock

A fascinating book packed full of little gems on a broad spectrum of topics. It’s brilliant if you are happy simply to open at a random page and read what catches your eye, although it can be a little trickier to navigate for specifics when you want to re-read them. I don’t fully understand why the literary overviews are included in a book designed to be read on the loo: far better in my opinion, to take the actual book in with you. – Amy Collins

I started reading this whilst dyeing my hair in the bathroom, and now I completely understand how it’s the perfect book to pass small amounts of time. Being a total literature nerd this ticks all the boxes for me; short text summaries and extracts which don’t bog me down as the book can be dipped in and out of, and clearly organised sections so I know exactly where to head to depending on my mood. A great read for those who love quotations too – there’s a piece of advice to suit everyone.                                                                                                                                                                        – Sian Elvin

Whilst disappointed by the several typos that immediately stood out to me in the first few pages of this book, I found the content was actually very interesting, covering a wide variety of literature in nicely divided sections. Not the sort of thing I’d use as a secondary text for an essay, but it’s fit for its namesake: to pass time.  – Samantha Hopps

PTITL may not sound like the world’s most sophisticated book title, but after consuming this rich and thorough literary anthology you’ll certainly sound effortlessly informed at any book club meeting or hoighty-toighty social gathering. An amalgamation of reviews, interviews and excerpts essaying some of history’s foremost literature and authors, PTITL is the perfect acquisition to help enrich your private bathroom time. It certainly beats that stack of Nuts and Heat magazines you keep beside the toilet anyway. – Daniel Kelly

A much needed update for those precious moments sat on the loo. With an eclectic mix of information you never thought you needed to know, you will resume your pre-loo activities a little bit more enlightened. Pun intended.                                                                                                                                                                                                 – Alex Pashley

Anyone who has ever studied English past the required level will be familiar with the various books that act as a guide along your path to truly understanding the novel you appear to be studying. I imagine those who stopped their love affair sooner than the rest of us to have an empty void in their lives unable to be filled… that was until PTITL came out. It offers the reader and in depth informative look into some of the best pieces of literature out there, it’s a must have for all bookshelves and does exactly what the title suggests it would.  – Maya Westwick

PTITL is perhaps the most aptly named book I’ve ever been given: although it is not a book you would want to (or really be able to) sit down and read in chunks, having had it in my toilet over Easter, I can testify to the title sincerely. – Josh Denoual

As what my parents call ‘a young lady’, I don’t find myself passing much time on the loo, however I did spend quite a lot of time delving into this fantastic book. It provides summaries and quotes from some of literature’s most famous novels, plays and poems from dreamscapes to realityscapes and everything in between. It also teaches you things you never knew so that you can then, for example, start spurting out lines of Ivanhoe over dinner- to which your family will respond by praising both your memory and the value of your degree. They need never know that actually PTITL presented you with such knowledge. My favourite section is ‘Poets and Poetry: Epic Verses and Versemakers’ which gives little snippets and information on some of the most infamous lyrics in the English language, though the section on ‘Human Rights Giants’ and their historic speeches is also well worth a read. It seems a shame, essentially, that this was relegated to ‘bathroom literature’. – Kim Simpson

 

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Passing Time in the Loo Vol. 2 was published by Scarab Books Ltd in 2007 at a retail price of £16.95.